Description
THEE END – FACING THE FINAL FRONTIER
TRIAL AND TERROR
NOVEMBER 22, 1998
ED YOUNG
Judgment. The word sounds so biting, capricious and cruel in our stripped-down, value-forgotten society. Yet our culture says, who am I to judge? Don’t judge me, I am not going to judge you. I am not going to even go there, we say. All lot of us have decaffeinated the term. And this mentality has so monopolized us and mezerized us that large blocks of us have removed this character trait from the nature of God. We boldly say, my God is a God of love, not a God of judgement. But, the judgement of God is painted some 600 times over the canvas of scripture. It looms large. It is everywhere we turn. We can’t get away from the judgment of God. And the judgement of God is going to be for believers and nonbelievers alike.
One day the Lord, Himself, will do an audit. He will look at our life ledger and He will assess penalties and give rewards. Now we love to talk about the fact that God is a God of forgiveness, a God of grace and a God of compassion. And we love to articulate that and sing about that and meditate on that. However, God is also a God of conviction, a God of wrath and a God of judgment. I love to talk about the fact that God is a God of judgment. I love to talk and to teach and to preach about the reality that God is a God of judgment. Why? Am I a closet hell fire and brimstone preacher who likes to dangle you over the sulfur and the smoke? No. I am not. I like to talk about this subject matter because of what it produces. When you talk about the judgment of God, it produces some incredible and supernatural benefits in your life and mine. And the judgment of God is intrinsically woven into God’s thoughts and His concepts and His words concerning the end.
This weekend I am concluding a series called Thee End, which I am preaching because God is in control of the end. With Y2K looming large out there, with the political and economic developments of our day, people are thinking about the final things. They are thinking about that moment in history when the curtain will finally close on life as we know it. And God has a lot to say about the end. When you talk about the end, you have got to talk about the judgment of God.
I believe today’s session will build beautiful benefits into your life and into mine. If you missed either of the first two messages, please pick one up because each builds on the one that proceeds it. And at the end I am going to give you a readying list for you to read and study. There are so many details that I can’t get into. I could easily spend three years on this material, instead of three weeks.
After the Rapture, after that sudden and instantaneous act of God in which He moves Christ followers from this planet into eternity, something happens. I am talking to just Christians, now. We face the judgment seat of Christ. That’s right. Christians face the judgment seat of Christ. I am not talking about being judged for our sinfulness. That was taken care of on the cross 2,000 years ago. I am talking about our awards, our trophies, the things that God wants to give you and me for what we have done with what He has given us. It has nothing to do with whether or not we will spend eternity with Christ. If we know Him personally, we are going to spend forever in a place called heaven, forever in a place that is so awesome words cannot do it justice.
But we do have to fact the judgment seat, the blazing eyes of Christ Himself as we come clean, as we give an account, as He measures our lives as Christians regarding what we have done with what He has given us. The Bible describes this in I Corinthians 4:5. “The Lord will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts.” At the Greek games, the judge had the best seat in the house. He had an unencumbered view of every event from start to finish. The Lord, Himself, on the judgment seat will have this unencumbered view of every one of our lives. He will check us out. He will look at our life ledger and He will look and see how we developed those talents, abilities and aptitudes that He gave us.
Now a lot of Christians do not like to think about the judgment seat of Christ. The judgment seat of Christ for some believers will be a time of triumph, a time of high fives and smiles. But for others, it will be a time of trauma, a time of tears. The Bible says that heaven will be a place where we shed no tears. But the judgment seat will be a place where some of us do indeed shed tears because we will realize the opportunities we had, the circumstances that were presented to us, the times when we had to serve Christ and to develop our aptitudes, abilities and gifts. And a lot of us will have dropped heads, teary eyes and sick stomachs.
Let’s say a wealthy believer goes before the judgment seat who is known for his or her “generosity” to the local church. But at the judgment seat this person will be seen as just throwing pocket change to the cause of Christ because the gifts of this person were just a mere slice of his or her financial pot. Other believers who kind of cruise control with their abilities will be seen as wasteful and neglectful because they didn’t do anything with what Christ gave them. Yes, they bowed the knee to Jesus but that was about it. It stopped there. Some believers here have a lack of purity in their lives. Let me say something about the lack of purity. It breaks the heart of God to have believers living together before marriage. It breaks the heart of God to have businessmen and women exaggerating and fudging numbers. It breaks the heart of God for us to get into situations that cause us to compromise. And many are in situations like that right now and it is going to keep you from receiving the incredible benefits and trophies and awards and rewards that God wants to give you.
You see, God is cheering you on. He is cheering me on. He knows that we are going to mess up. He knows that we are going to foul up. He knows that we are going to fall short. But He has a phenomenal pile of trophies that He wants to give you and give me. And for many, He will give us high fives and smiles and eternal awards. I am not talking about the Heisman, the Grammy or the Emmy. I am talking about something that does not tarnish, that will not rot or rust. I am talking about ultimate awards. And many will receive them. But for others He will say, “I put you in that situation, around that church, around that group of people and I have all this stuff for you but I can’t give it out because you were wasteful, neglectful, greedy and selfish.”
Now following the judgment seat, yes, we live in heaven forever. But I have got to tell you again, believers, one day we will do this life ledger thing before the blazing eyes of the Lord. And Jesus will make the IRS appear like generalists. He is going to get specific. So that should motivate you and me to think about every word, every thought, every place we go because if we know Christ, we are an advertisement for Him.
Children love trophies, don’t they? It never ceases to amaze me how little kids love those trophies. I will never forget the first trophy I ever received. It was in the third grade. I played football for the Brookwood Forest Bulldogs. And when they called my name, and when I paraded across that stage, I was so focused on the trophy that I grabbed the trophy out of my coach’s hand. And everybody kind of laughed. “Oh, Ed, he is so aggressive. He just loves that trophy.” And, parents, we love to watch our children get awards and rewards and certificates and ribbons, don’t we? We get a little misty-eyed. We love it. Most adults dismiss this as a childhood thing. It is not a childhood thing. I think adults like awards and rewards and certificates and trophies just as much as children. Have you ever watched a foursome win a little golf scramble and for their trophy they get a set of golf balls from the local country club. Grown men and women cheer. Yea, we won. It is incredible.
I ran a marathon a few years ago and a lady pushing her two-year-old son in a jogging stroller finished five minutes ahead of me. And when she flew over the finish line, she was hugging her friends who were giving her a race T-shirt. We love awards and trophies. And most of us have an ego wall, don’t we? Adults, we are more sophisticated than our children. We don’t just show the trophies on the dresser and the windowsill. “This is a picture of me with…… This is a trophy which I didn’t really mean to have it out. And this is a football which….and a baseball which.” And that is fine. There is no problem with that. Why, though, do we have this desire? Why are we reward and trophy driven? I believe this desire is a microcosm of the ultimate desire put there by God to run the Christian race, to live the life, to develop the skills and abilities and aptitudes. And one day, when we face the judgment seat of Christ our longings for the trophies and the rewards, if we have developed them, will be satisfied. That is why I truly believe that we have that desire.
So, yes. The judgment seat of Christ will be a time of trauma and a time of tears for some but for others it will be a time of triumph, a time of smiles and high fives, a time when Jesus will say, well done, my good and faithful servant.
You might be asking what kind of stuff will be given out. Let me describe to you some of these trophies. They are talked about in the Bible as crowns. The first crown that believers will receive is called the crown of glory. The Bible says in I Peter 5:4, “And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” The crown of glory, the trophy of glory will be bestowed upon those who have taught the scripture. Maybe you have taught the Bible before an entire church. Maybe you teach the Bible in a small group, or in men’s ministry or women’s ministry. Maybe you teach the Bible in Children’s Church or in our student ministry. I don’t know. But Jesus said, “I am going to give you this trophy, the crown of glory, this I Peter 5:4 award.” Isn’t that cool?
There is another trophy. It is found in II Timothy 4:8. It is called the crown of righteousness. “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord will award to me on that day and also to all who long for His appearing.” For those believers who have waited anxiously for the appearing of Christ, for the second coming of the Lord, we will receive this trophy of righteousness.
But the trophies keep coming. There is also a trophy or crown of rejoicing. That is found in I Thessalonians 2:19-20. “For what is our hope, our joy or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes. Indeed, you are our glory and our joy.” For Christ followers who have articulated their faith, who have shared their faith, verbalized their faith, they will have this trophy of rejoicing. Christianity is not just a private thing. Yes, we make a private, personal decision to receive Christ but once we go private we are to go public. Now I am not saying, nor is the Bible inferring, that we take the Bible and wop people upside the head with it. The Bible does not say that we take scripture and force it down someone’s throat. It does not say that we take a Biblical Uzi and shoot people down with the gospel gun. No. It says that we are to build relationships of integrity and when the time appears, God will give us the words to say and we stand up publicly for what has occurred privately. Some of us will have these trophies of rejoicing.
There is another trophy, the trophy or crown of incorruption.
I Corinthians 9:25-26. “Everyone who competes in the game goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly. I do not fight like a man beating the air. The crown of incorruption is reserved for those believers who have lived a disciplined life.” People are always wondering how they grow in their faith, develop spiritually, increase their commitment quotient. It is through the D word, discipline. It is through daily prayer which is communication with God. It is through daily Bible study. It is feeding on His principles and precepts. It is involving ourselves within the context of the church. Many will receive this crown of incorruption.
There is a final crown, the crown of life. The crown of life is described in James 1:12. The half brother of Jesus wrote these words. “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life.” This crown of life is for those who have endured trials and troubles and tribulations.
You see, we live in a flawed world, a sin-stained planet. And bad things happen to good people. Difficult things happen to good people. Horrible things happen to good people. And the Lord will work through difficult things and great things, average things and super fantastic things. He will work through all of those things and make them good for those of us who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Not that all things are good. Not that all things are peachy keen. But He will use those different things for good if we follow Him. So a lot of people who are going through tragedy right now, I believe will receive the crown of life.
I just want to thank God for being a God of strategy, a God who is so intentional about things. Think about it. God has given us the Holy Spirit to work from the inside out to develop these gifts. Think about it. He provides the church for us to learn and understand how to use these abilities. He has given us opportunity after opportunity in life itself to do His work. And He is cheering us on. He cannot wait to give us these awards and rewards.
But I have got to stop and ask you this sobering question, the question that I have been asking myself recently. What if the judgment seat occurred tonight in your life and in mine? Would you be ready for it? Would you be fired up for it? Would you receive high fives and smiles and trophies and awards and certificates of eternity? Or, would it be a time of trauma and tears and missed opportunities because you spend so much time churning and burning after careers and corner offices and clothes and cars and all the trophies that this world has to offer? What would it be for you? The great news is, it is never, ever too late to start.
Once the Rapture takes place, that sudden instantaneous act of God that moves us from this planet to eternity, we face the judgment seat. Now I have got to ask you this question because it is a question that I ask myself. Why, why, why does Jesus wait until the Rapture to judge all of the believers? That’s a pretty good question, isn’t it? Why does He allow all this stuff to pile up, this gridlock to take place? Why doesn’t He do the judgment seat thing the moment we die? I will tell you why. The moment we die we are going to eternity. But when the Rapture occurs we will face the judgment seat. He lets everything pile up because your legacy, my legacy does not end in the casket. It continues to develop even when we are long gone, if we die before the Rapture.
Case in point would be my father-in-law. Mendel Lee was a great man, a wonderful believer. His legacy is still living on through the influence he had on my wife, on my children, on every single person he touched. So in a real way those things of influence, that legacy is still continuing so Jesus will not have a full read on Mendel’s life ledger until the Rapture takes place. That happens to be my personal opinion of why Christ lets everything pile up. So when all of this is taking place, at the judgment seat, let me tell you what is taking place on the earth. The earth is going through a 7-year period of pandemonium, hell on earth, called the Tribulation.
Let’s review the diagram on the side screen. We will move from left to right. We have Christ’ death, burial and resurrection. Two thousand years ago, Jesus did something that we don’t deserve. He died on the cross for all of our sins, past, present and future and rose again. So the work has been done. We do not work our way into heaven. We are saved by grace through faith. Now once we have received this work, the Holy Spirit works within us good works. From there we have this present age or the church age or the age of grace.
Then one day the Rapture will occur, that sudden, instantaneous act of God that will move believers from this planet into the next. One day in a nanosecond, millions of conversations will end in mid-sentence. A pilot will be taxiing his plane down the runway, look to his right expecting to carry on a conversation with the co-pilot and all he will see will be a leather seat. A quarterback will go back to pass, look over to his high school coach, look to his primary receiver and the primary receiver will be gone. The Rapture. It is going to freak everybody out.
After the Rapture we face the judgment seat of Christ that I just talked about, tears of trauma for some, high fives and smiles for others. Then to begin this 7-year period of pandemonium, the Antichrist appears, this charismatic world leader who will conquer this planet without violence, without force. Then as the Tribulation gets worse and worse and worse, you get the 144,000 Jewish Billy Graham type evangelists preaching and teaching the word. This period is culminated with the battle of Armageddon, the mother of all wars. Our finite and feeble minds cannot even grasp what will happen during the battle of Armageddon, described to us in the book of Revelation and other texts.
Following that we have the glorious Second Coming of Jesus. Christ will return. We will return with Him. And when those of us who have been raptured return with Christ, He will gather together all the other believers who have endured this 7 year period of pandemonium, the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and those who have followed Christ during that time. And then, you have got to love this, we will begin the millennium. One thousand years we will rule and reign with Christ on this planet. Let me press the pause button and talk about the millennium. I want to talk to you about the quality of life. Talk about incredible living. There will be peace in the millennium. I am not talking about a phony, drug-induced John Lennon peace. I am talking about real peace, tranquility of soul, peace like we have never, ever seen it. We will have peace. And it will be such a Nirvana, such a great deal that even the media will report only good news. Can you believe it? No fights on Jerry Springer. Sam Donaldson with a perpetual smile. Dan Rather with charisma. It will be unbelievable.
How about wild animals, snakes and scorpions and crocodiles? They will all be our friends. There will be no zoos or animal parks. We will all be like Steve Irwin, the crocodile man. Have you ever seen him? He’s got the short shorts. “Oh, look at that crocodile, beautiful crocodile. Let me give her a kiss. Now I’ll kiss my wife, Terry.” We will all be like that. It will be a time of great prosperity. It will be a time when relational harmony is happening. It is going to be phenonomal. Words can’t describe it. During this time, and it is hard to accept because we know how great it is going to be, people still will turn their backs on God. The reason the millenium is going to be so awesome is because Satan will be incarcerated during this time period.
After the 1,000 years is up, Satan is let loose one last time and then he is finally done away with. He is thrown away, totally wasted, in a reservoir or lake of fire and sulfur. It is history for the evil one. Then, though, we have the white throne judgment. The white throne judgment is different from the judgment seat. The judgment seat is for those of us who know Christ personally. The white throne judgment is reserved for the irreligious, for the rejecters, for the people who had opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to follow Christ but they turned their backs on Him and went their own way. This white throne judgment for nonbelievers is going to be a courtroom scene like you have never experienced in your life. Johnny Cochran, F. Lee Bailey and Jerry Spitz will not be there to argue a person’s case. Jesus will act as judge.
The Bible says that God is patient. He doesn’t want anyone to perish. He doesn’t want anyone to live eternally in hell. That is why He is delaying His coming. That is why He is delaying the Rapture, because He wants everyone to take this step. He wants everyone to bow the knee. But one day the curtain will close. One day the Rapture will occur. One day the judgment seat will occur. One day the white throne judgment will take place. And it is going to be a time of true reckoning. Jesus will look at the Book of Life. The Book of Life has every single name of every single person who has ever been born on this planet. Talk about a database! And if someone has not bowed the knee to Christ during his or her lifetime, they will be erased off the screen. And they will spend forever in a place called hell. I do not enjoy talking about hell. But Jesus talked about it time and time again. You can’t get away from it. Hell is described as a place of utter isolation, a place reserved for those people who went their own way on this planet. Basically I believe that Christ will say, “You went your own way on earth, now have your own way in eternity.” Hell will be a place of constant pain. The picture the Bible uses is one of stinging scorpions. Some people tell me that they are going to party in hell with all of their friends. But the Bible says that even if your friends are there, you won’t know it. Hell is defined as a place where you can do anything and everything you have always wanted to do but alone. And you will have this forever knowledge of knowing that you had an opportunity to turn to Christ. You had an opportunity to bow the knee. You had an opportunity to respond to God’s awesome love, but you didn’t do it. And this judgment, one more time, is only reserved for those who are outside the family of God.
After that takes place, you have a new heaven and a new earth and we live forever and ever and ever with the Lord in heaven. Heaven is not a place where we lie around and eat grapes and listen to harp music. It is a place of action and vitality and activity. We continue to develop God’s great and wonderful plan that He has for us in a supernatural way, a way that we can’t even get with our finite and feeble minds. But is it going to be a place where we are reunited with our loved ones who are Christ followers, a place of constant worship, a place of excitement, a place of adventure. That is heaven.
During this series I have said one thing repeatedly. I have said studying the end times, studying prophecy, studying the final frontier is wonderful information. But if we stop at just the information thing, it’s useless. God did not write one word in His word just for information. God wants us to take information and let it live out and play out in our lives and cause transformation. He wants us to take information and let it live out and play out in our lives and cause transformation. He wants it to cause life change. He wants Ed Young’s life to never be the same because he studied this. He wants your life to never be the same because you have studied it. He wants your life to never be the same because you have heard the series.
During my opening statement I said that this stuff would produce beautiful and supernatural benefits in our lives. I want to talk to you about a couple of benefits. First, a benefit of this study makes me keenly aware of my accountability and responsibility. Everything, I am talking to believers now, I do and say from the moment I bow the knee to Christ until I face the Lord either withdraws or accrues in my eternal account. It is on my life ledger. Again, I am referring to using and developing my gifts and abilities. That is a heavy thought. Everything I do, everything I say, every place I go, I am mirroring my Maker. It is my responsibility to live my life as an example because I respond to the unfathomable and awesome life of Jesus. That is why I want to live this way. That is why I want to receive these eternal rewards.
So it has been my prayer that we become keenly aware of our accountability and our responsibility. We have each influence on unique people groups that no one else has. And we have unique gifts that no one else has. I sincerely believe that there is a giant warehouse in heaven with all these trophies and awards and ribbons and certificates that Christ wanted to give out but will be unable to because many of us have squandered what we were given. I don’t want that to happen in my life or your life.
This study should also do something else. I think this study will help us understand the eternal implications of all of humanity. The writer of the book of Ecclestices said it best. “God has set eternity in the hearts of men.” Why are we so infatuated with the supernatural, the paranormal, death, the end and life beyond the grave? I will tell you why. It is a God thing. God has put it there. He has set eternity in the hearts of men and in the hearts of women. Is you eternity secure? Because God wants it to be. Remember, God is patient not wanting anyone to perish. Hey, Christ followers, how long did you test the patience of God? A month? A year? Ten years? Just say a quick prayer of thanks to God that He was patient with you.
How about seekers and skeptics, because we have many here who are just checking out the Christianity thing. How long have you been testing the patience of God? A month? A year? Five years? Twenty-five years? Maybe you are a seeker or a skeptic. Maybe you feel that life has knocked you down on one knee. Maybe you feel staggered a little bit due to difficulty in a marriage, due to a financial setback, due to some career questioning, due to a habit you can’t get a handle on. I want to challenge you to put down the other knee today and unclench you fist and say to Jesus, “Have Your way with me. I want to bow the knee to You. I want to go with You. I want to give the whole deal to You. I want to receive what you did for me 2,000 years ago. Come into my life, Christ.”
I pray, oh how I pray, that you make that commitment. When you do you will never, ever, ever have to entertain the thought of facing trial and terror. Trial and terror.